Friday Mailbag: What's the situation at running back and cornerback?

Blue White Illustrated's Ryan Snyder recently started a new Friday feature, opening up his Twitter notifications for fans to ask any recruiting question they'd like. Now, even those who don't subscribe to BWI will get an opportunity to ask questions.

July has already seen a flurry of commitments, with six new players committing last week. The Nittany Lions are up to No. 3 in the Rivals Team Rankings with 11 four-star commitments now, and they're not done yet, as we expect a handful of additional players to announce their decisions over the next few weeks.

This week, RB Kaytron Allen and CB Jordan Allen both received FutureCasts to end up at Penn State, so we discuss that, the situation at linebacker and much more.

Check out this week's answers below.

Penn State has been recruiting Kaytron Allen for nearly two years now, as the staff extended an offer to him way back in Sept. 2019. Within the months that followed, he told reporters that he had real interest in visiting State College at some point down the road, citing the success they've had with players like Saquon Barkley. Of course, the pandemic put all of that on hold in the spring of 2020, so he was never able to visit until just recently, when he took an official visit to Penn State the first weekend in June.

Going into his visit, I do believe the staff had a few other backs ahead of him on their recruiting board, but some of the first conversations I had with contacts following that visit weekend were about Allen. I was told his visit was arguably the most productive of the weekend. In addition to everything checking out with him physically, we were told that he and the staff bonded right away, and that he's now one of their top three or so running back targets.

Omarion Hampton was also part of that group, along with Nick Singleton, of course. Hampton appears to be headed to North Carolina, which is why Penn State shifted the majority of its focus to Allen and Singleton in recent weeks. Allen went on to take official visits to Florida, Georgia and Michigan State last month, and I know Florida and Michigan State were definitely pushing hard for him. For Penn State, I think his connection with Ja'Juan Seider has put Penn State in the driver's seat more than anything else, although he has developed a friendship with Drew Shelton and other players already committed. I'm hearing that by next weekend, we should learn of Allen's decision.

With Keon Wylie already committed and only a handful of scholarships remaining, I would expect the staff to add just one more linebacker in this year's class. I think most of their focus currently is on New York City native Moses Walker. The Rivals250 prospect took an official visit to Penn State that final weekend in June, as well as two unofficial visits to Rutgers last month as well. Walker is very quiet, so it's been tough to get a feel for where he's truly leaning. I think most of my colleagues expect him to stay close to home and attend Rutgers, but Penn State contacts seem to be confident that they have a real chance here, too. He's another player that could have this wrapped up in the next 7-10 days.

Aside from Walker, I feel as if Jaishawn Barham and Abdul Carter are the most realistic options. Just like Walker, Barham is very quiet about his recruitment. We know he came to Penn State for an unofficial visit last month, and a lot of people think he'll end up at either PSU or Maryland. Carter camped at Penn State in the beginning of June and had one of the most impressive workouts of any prospect this summer. PSU was already interested before that workout, but that increased significantly in the days that followed the Whiteout Camp, so much so that they brought him back for an official visit at the end of the month.

There's talk that Shawn Murphy plans to visit when the July dead period ends, so we'll keep an eye on him as well, but right now, I think it's all about Walker. If they miss on him, the other three come into play more.

I get the impression that there are three cornerbacks to focus on over the coming weeks: Jordan Allen, Camron Miller and Keenan Nelson Jr. There are others in the mix, but with scholarships getting tight, I think this is the group that will decide who gets the two remaining scholarships at cornerback.

I put in a FutureCast for Allen this week, and while he's not a lock, I feel pretty good about it. Allen was forced to cancel his official visit to Penn State due to a death in his family, but after our talk the other night, I feel as if his relationship with Penn State's staff is firmly the strongest he's built to this point.

“One thing about them is that they’ve always kept it real,” Allen told BWI earlier this week. “They never hide anything. Any question I have, they let me know what it is. Everything is uncut, which I like. I never appreciate coaches lying to me and leading me on and stuff like that. They always let me know what it is. The feel for their coaching staff has been a real plus for me.”

Both Louisville and Miami are pushing hard for him, and he even took official visits to both schools, but again, I think the Lions are simply out recruiting those two staffs. Allen has already said that he'll definitely be committing on July 17, and I think all signs point to State College.

As long as nothing changes, that'll make it a race for either Nelson or Miller to jump onboard. Neither have put any firm decision dates out there, but I'm sure the staff is already informing them of what they expect to happen. I think we could see the dominos fall relatively quickly at this position.

Yeah, there are a bunch of players that I think Penn State sits in a strong position with already for the Class of 2023, but most of them seem intent on taking additional visits this fall before making any moves. If you go back to 2019, at least some of the 2022 prospects were able to attend games that fall. You'll find a few 2023 prospects that visited schools their freshmen year, but for the most part, visits are still new for the vast majority of them.

With that said, there are always a few rising-juniors who make a commitment early on, so I wouldn't be shocked if we saw someone jump on board by the end of the summer. Who exactly, I'm not sure right now.

By my count, PSU has extended somewhere around 180 verbal scholarship offers already, but some of the top players that I think they're off to strong starts with include offensive linemen Chase Bistonis and Alex Birchmeier. Both took self-guided tours of Penn State during the 2020 dead period. Pennsylvania prospects Shawn Battle, Semaj Bridgeman, Rodney Gallagher and Lamont Payne have all spoken highly of the staff in recent months. New Jersey natives Sydir Mitchell and James Heard should have Penn State among their top schools until the very end. McDonogh prospects Mason Robinson and Antonio Tripp have already been on campus a handful of times.

There are others, too, but out of those 10 guys, I could see at least half of them playing for the Nittany Lions in the years to come.

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